Logistics is a main sector in the UK economy contributing to over £90 billion in the GDP, almost all the aspects and branches of the UK economy rely on logistics. The logistics sector employs 2.2 million people who formulate 8% of the total UK workforce. However, research showed that the logistics sector is negatively affected by the Brexit. Along with the same research when people were asked about their predictions for the future of the logistics market 60% of respondents think that the business situation will get more complex. Whereas 40% think conditions will remain the same or get better. Logistics buildings are playing a pivotal role in enhancing investment in all business centres. Smooth logistics process including resources assessment, packaging, assembly and good customer services will have a positive effect on cost, time and investment encouraging. As for all of the sectors, technology has transformed the industry as a whole, and here are the recent predictions for the future of the logistics marketplace.
How will the logistics marketplace look like 10 years from now?
Logistics is in control of most of the industries now, however, as for the fast pace development of the retail market, we also predict a breakthrough step in the logistics sector. A research made by PWC has tackled a question of how the logistics marketplace would look like in around 10 years? The research presented four scenarios that show the role of technology in the change. In two of the models, new entrants are the drivers of change, while old executives retain a steady position in the other two. Here are the four scenarios predicted in the research, simply explained:
Entrants scenarios
- Start-Up’s role: In this scenario, new entrants in the market will trigger the change and bite a market share from the incumbents by implementing new business models based on data analytics and other technologies.
- Complex competition: This scenario presents big retail companies as part of the logistics competition. They start by purchasing small entrants and share the big experience they have with the customer behavior to optimize the supply chain in the market. In this model, big retail firms are changing from customers to competitors easily in collaboration with new or small startups in the logistics arena
Incumbents scenarios
- Sharing the PI(e): This model suggests that incumbents would increase their efficiency and reduce their environmental impact in order to jump on the new entrant’s model. They will tend to implement newly developed modes as the Physical Internet (PI), that aims to transform the way physical objects are moved, stored, supplied and used moving towards global logistics efficiency.
- Scale play: This scenario shows incumbents increasing their existence by expanding their size and taking full advantage of the recent technologies. Tools as E-commerce, intelligent transportation, and automated warehouses are a big change in these scenarios where incumbents tend to expand their scale and enhance their coverage worldwide.
Finally, after knowing how the logistics marketplace would look like in the future, how about giving a look on the logistics arena giant buildings, how they are designed, operated, and how they are much more than a normal warehouse.
What are the logistics centres design guides? What are the differences between them and warehouses?
What is a logistics building?
Logistics building is the organization for managing the flow of things between the point of origin and the point of consumption in order to meet the requirements of customers or corporates. This type of buildings includes tangible goods, supplies, and other consumable items. The flow of these goods through handling, packaging, transporting and warehousing.
What are the required types of space inside?
Depending on the program of the warehouse being designed, space types may vary dramatically.
- Storage Space.
- Office Space.
- Loading Docks for shipping and receiving.
- Light Industrial Space.
- Computer Centers.
- Machinery and human paths.
What are the design guidelines?
Logistics buildings is never a standard space that can be duplicated everywhere, such spaces can dramatically change according to each country, size, locations and space requirements. Yet there are common ground lines all logistics centres should try to adopt:
- Design and facilitate for future changes in size, business type and employment force within the building.
- Plan for the technological tools you are going to use as smart shipping and barcodes scanning centres from the early stages.
- Maximize the utilization of space with designing proper circulation paths for human and materialistic moving inside the building.
- Plan for the vehicles inside or around the building as ships docks, truck moving paths, car parking, cranes area because each one of these vehicles has special design requirements in height, width and moving
- Receiving and shipping should be separated to avoid congestion
- Fire in logistics buildings are not normal fires, they are basically a catastrophe to any supplier and whole supply chains. This is why in logistics buildings firefighting design should be properly revised with enough space for fire protection equipment
What is the difference between a logistics centre and a warehouse?
In fact, warehousing is part of the bigger sector which is logistics. Warehouses are safe storage for all the goods that may exist in a specific building. Warehouses are attached to factories or any organizations that produce a definite product and more basically attached to logistics centres, while a logistics building is a full organization that manages and operate the flow of goods and properties from one point to another. Bottom line, let’s agree on this, there can be a warehouse without a logistics centre, but there can’t be a logistics centre without a warehouse.
